What was all the fuss about? The nagging fears about Tottenham Hotspur's potential to make mountains out of Champions League qualifying molehills came to nothing and, in the pouring north London rain, it was adjectives such as professional, composed and clinical that were applied to this stroll into the promised land.

It was Young Boys who, over the course of the two legs, demonstrated the self-destructive streak. "Three-nil and you mucked it up," chorused the White Hart Lane crowd. Or something like that. The evening, built up so wildly in the hearts and minds of the Tottenham crowd, proved to be something of a damp squib. Certainly, it was not the rip-roaring tie that had been advertised.

Nobody at Tottenham was complaining, particularly after the heart-stopping drama of the first leg last Tuesday. The storyline was refreshingly familiar and simple. Gareth Bale was yet again outstanding, making all of the goals, and Peter Crouch scored three times in a night. Insert punchline here.

There were no wallies under brollies on the touchline. Harry Redknapp took a soaking from the elements but he emerged delighted and no little relieved. Tottenham's European tour is on. From the first minute here, it was never in doubt.

Awful. Oppressive. Suffocating. And that was just the weather. Rarely can there have been greater pressure on a modern Spurs team. It hung like a great weight at kick-off, mingling with the swirling rain and the optimism on show among the home support. Yet the pre-match worry proved unnecessary.

A little context. This tie was so much more than the make-or-break culmination of all that hard work and achievement over 38 games last season. The previous time Tottenham played in a European Cup match here at the Lane was 48 years ago, against Benfica in the semi-finals of the old competition. Redknapp was in the crowd. He trained with the club as a schoolboy and he went along to games.

He remembers the intensity, the goosebumps, the epic scale of the contest. No one at the ground that night thought it would be so many decades before Spurs played again in Europe's elite competition. Bela Guttmann, the victorious Benfica coach, predicted that the north London club would win the tournament "soon".

A stadium full of waving white flags had greeted the teams here and the sound of the Champions League aria was one for the sorest of ears. There were guttural roars yet the atmosphere was actually subdued for long spells. It was hardly 1962 all over again.

Redknapp wanted his player to "swarm" over all Young Boys at the outset and the tempo they set was impressive. Wilson Palacios, in for the injured Luka Modric, shuddered into the first tackle. It was a sign of things to come from him. Tom Huddlestone, who has started the season so impressively, was a calming presence.

What Redknapp and the crowd would have given for an early goal. When their wish was answered, courtesy of Crouch's far-post header from Bale's deep delivery, there was release. Crouch reached a long arm to the sky; Heurelho Gomes cavorted at the other end. One-nil was job done. Only 85 minutes to hold out. Clearly, that is not the Tottenham way.

When the draw for this play-off was made at the beginning of the month, Young Boys, to many fans in England, were just an unfancied team with a silly name. The smoothness of their technique and their comfort in possession, among other things, has served to alter perceptions. But they were outmuscled and overrun. Tottenham looked to want it more. And they had the class to back up their desire.

After the initial surge from the home team, there was a lull. And even when Jermain Defoe added the second, having used an arm to control before his finish, the celebrations in the stands were surprisingly muted. Like Defoe, they appeared to be waiting for the referee's whistle. It felt too straightforward. Had the cold water coming down from the heavens put out the fires?

Perhaps it was the knowledge that, for Tottenham, disaster can lurk around any corner. Michael Dawson got into a muddle with Gomes and Henri Bienvenu fluffed an easy header. The crowd chuntered. But this was not one of those dark nights.

Gomes did not reappear for the second half and, with Carlo Cudicini on for his first competitive football since his motorcycle accident, the game drifted along. It needed a Young Boys goal to enliven it but, instead, Crouch etched his name into the headlines for the right reasons.

The ovation of the evening was for Bale upon his substitution. Tottenham cantered home. No fussing, no frills. This could catch on in these parts. The drama and excitement lies ahead.